Bank earnings season is well underway with DICK BOVE, the dean of bank analysts, concluding the sector’s outlook is bleak. Four of Wall Street’s premier league banks — JP Morgan, Chase, Citigroup and Bank of America — reported on Friday. A multitude of write offs and some $2.9 billion in charges linked to the rescue of regional banks weighed heavily on results. Citigroup reported a quarterly loss of $1.8 billion and announced it would eliminate 20,000 jobs worldwide, or 10 percent of its workforce.  BOVE, chief financial strategist at ODEON CAPITAL GROUP,  says a fundamental shift is underway in US banking as new rules and regulations are forcing banks to offload assets and become more risk averse. “The US government does not want the banks to grow,” says BOVE. In this changed environment, there will be winners and losers, he says.  

Why has the US economy defied Wall Street expectations and skirted recession? By some measures, the economy should already have been in sharp contraction as rising interest rates, borrowing costs and inflation pinch consumers. BOVE traces the surprising resiliency of the US economy to the massive stimulus spending during the Covid lockdowns. That spending saw consumer net worth grow by $41 trillion from the start to the official end of the Covid lockdowns from early 2020 to the middle of 2023, according to BOVE.

Still, MAT VAN ALSTYNE, says polling shows American consumers are feeling downbeat on the economy in sharp contrast to the upbeat message of the official data. “People don’t feel good,” adds VAN ALSTYNE, ODEON co-founder and managing partner. “We have rents rising, high rates, the world seems to be chaotic and things are falling apart.” Elsewhere, the CONVERSATION examines the SEC voting to expand investors' ability to buy cryptocurrency in the form of ETS and mutual funds. And there’s more. Joining the CONVERSATION is our host, JOHN AIDAN BYRNE

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